to ebay or not to ebay

[tall_jason79]

Ok im in the hunt for MH lighting for my 120 soon to be reef tank. Its 60 " long which makes it hard to find lighting . Ebay seems to have alot of light setups that are pretty reasonable compared to some lfs . granted i support the lfs,but when it comes to 700 of my hard earned money i have to find other possiblitys. so my question to you all is . Has anyone baught lighting from ebay? i just built a canopy for it which gives me the option of doing pendants . any and all feed back would be greatly appreciated !!!I'm at a loss here

 

[chadfarmer]

are you doing metal halide?

becareful what you buy

 

[tall_jason79]

yes i would like to do metal halide, i heard that the screw in type or single ended should be avoided since the likely hood of them "exploding" is real high

 

[Reefer Wannabe]

www.thereefstop.com

Local guy--awesome prices for brand name stuff.

If you've got a canopy, your options are wide open. Personally, if I were starting from scratch, I'd go with two really nice reflectors and mogul sockets (single ended). I wouldn't pay lots of money for an expensive all-in-one light fixture.

 

[chadfarmer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12058361#post12058361 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tall_jason79
yes i would like to do metal halide, i heard that the screw in type or single ended should be avoided since the likely hood of them "exploding" is real high

that could happen but mostly not going to happen unless you get a lot of water on them

my old ones had salt spray all over them

 

[tall_jason79]

ok, well now i have a start. i might as well give them some more money lol i have a 250 gallon tank that i wish the wife would let me convert to salt but it would be kind of price right now i think , and she likes the africans in it lol owell . sad thing is the 250 is already drilled and covered up now the 120 cant be drilled

 

[tall_jason79]

maybe 2 250 watt single end with a t5 48 in fixture up front and one in back for actinics?

 

[JxMetal]

mh over a fowlr?

 

[tall_jason79]

well thats what it started as ... i'm going for the reef now . there is just so much more you can do witha reef tank

 

[hagfish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12058423#post12058423 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chadfarmer
that could happen but mostly not going to happen unless you get a lot of water on them

my old ones had salt spray all over them

I agree with Chad here. I don't think it is very common at all for those bulbs to "explode". However, you shouldn't allow them to get too wet as that will increase the chance of it happening. That is why you don't allow them to be closer than 8" to the water.

 

[tall_jason79]

that should be managable thanks for the input guys